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Thistle (Terminal Secrets)
Thistle is an earth pony stallion in the radioplay series Terminal Secrets. He is one of the main characters in the third episode of the series, HUNGER. Biography Childhood Thistle was born in Stable 73 to a pair of normal parents named Cardus and Cirsium. While he was young, Thistle was very sick. He was born underweight and suffered a variety of infections and conditions related to a weak immune system. The parents loved him very much but feared he would not live very long. This was one of the reasons neither of the parents got sterilized (as was mandatory at the time under the Single Foal Policy). Despite his initial health issues, Thistle began improving. He turned a corner into normal health around age 3. The parents were grateful for his good health, but had not yet scheduled an appointment for a vasectomy. One night, after some drinking they slept together despite running out of prophylactics, and Cirsium soon became pregnant. They were able to plead for the child's life to the Overmare, but it came at a high cost. Cardus was gelded immediately, and Cirsium would be forced into a hysterectomy as soon as Kali was born. Due to complications following the birth and major surgery, Cirsium did not survive. Career As he got older, the young Thistle badly felt the absence of his mother, especially as Cardus would need to devote much time to the infant Kali. Once he reached adolescence, Thistle decided that he wanted to spend his life in medicine to hopefully prevent those kind of complications from happening to anyone else. His cutie mark appeared. That would be his destiny, just not the way he expected. Once becoming an adult, while able to help many mares in the stable with successful deliveries, Thistle soon found himself as an unwilling weapon of an oppressive government. In her last days, the Zealous Overmare of Stable 73 would order him to perform his first termination after a couple broke the Single Foal Policy. He was paralyzed at the idea, but was soon threatened at gunpoint. The mother had been restrained, but was still crying for help when he anesthetized her. All he could think about was Kali and his mother during the traumatic event. He felt as though a piece of himself died that day and never came back. He was ordered to do a few more over his first years working, when a new Overmare took over. He had wished more than anything that she would be able to change policy and not let that continue. The population of the Stable were unmoved however, and the new Overmare would prove too meek to change any minds, instead hiding and self-medicating with a variety of drugs. Thistle grew to hate and resent her more than anyone. This feeling only grew stronger when he discovered that she had a juvenile crush on him. Transition This continued on for years, as the Stable guards continued enforcing the policies. He contemplated suicide on more than one occasion, but ultimately could not abandon Kali and her husband Milliamp. Things would take a sudden escalation when Kali admitted to Thistle that she was pregnant... with her second child. Fearing for their lives, Thistle helped them form a plan. They were going to get the Overmare's password and open the door of the Stable for the first time, to escape into the mysterious surface world. Unfortunately, the only way the group could think to get close to the Overmare was through Thistle. He would have to indulge her lusts to gain access to her terminal. He was able to bring himself to do it, but was frightened when she seemed to hint that she knew what they were doing while falling asleep. Regardless, he quickly used Milliamp's device to copy all of the Overmare terminal data onto a hard drive and get back to them. They searched through the files for the Stable Door Override, but were shocked to find something else entirely. The entire premise of their existence, that there wasn't enough food to go around, was a lie. There was no need for the intense population control programs, there was no reason for Thistle to ever have to forcibly terminate anyone. This realization threw him into a rage and he galloped back for the Overmare's office, but when he reached it, he found guards all over the area. The Overmare had overdosed on sleeping pills, leaving a note for Thistle. She apologized to him for her weakness, but thanked him for giving her one last night of happiness. After that, Kali was able to take over as the new Overmare, open the Stable door, and convince the population to reject the horrors of the Single Foal Policy. Once they began exploring the surface, Thistle abandoned medicine for the most part. Instead he devoted his scientific aptitude to try to increase crop yields so they could grow much more food on the surface than even things like the wild razor wheat could provide. Quotes * "Yeah, well I’ll remember... I remember all of them... And it’s getting harder to lie." * "I’m telling you, the radiation should have died down significantly by now... Unless the Stable door itself was hit, the levels could be completely livable." * "The bitch won’t leave me alone... Every time she gets ‘medicated’ she seems to bump into me. If she ever sobered up enough, I’d tell her what I really think of that wicked, cowardly nag! Too afraid to stand up for anything... Too afraid to tell the others that they are wrong, and let them keep destroying the lives of others... Make us destroy lives for them. If she won’t change things, then she should die and step aside!" Behind The Scenes * Thistle was voiced by long time EAST Corp actor Webshoter. * Thistle and the rest of his family are named after types of flowering plants with thorns or spines, a metaphor for a kind of simple beauty that must be protected. Category:EAST Corp Productions Category:Terminal Secrets Category:Main Characters (Terminal Secrets)